Suicide Grief Support Forum

The Suicide Grief Support Forum is a public message board, an outreach project of the Parents of Suicides (POS) and Friends and Families of Suicides (FFOS) Internet Communities. The forum officially began on October 2, 2002.

Our mission is to provide information, support and comfort to anyone whose life has been touched by the suicide of another person. Connecting with others who have walked the same road can sometimes make a difference in how we survive a tragedy that may be incomprehensible.

The board is monitored by special volunteers who give freely of their time in memory of the people they lost to suicide.

We do not pretend to be professionals, and we encourage anyone whose needs are greater than can be met here to seek out professional help.

Whenever i am flooded with all the negative cruel things that people have said to me recently, and managed to bring me to my knees again, i remember the words of a poem read at Garry's funeral, its title is, " IT IS NOT HOW HE DIED, BUT HOW HE LIVED" i cant recall the author but will check and get back, but a quick search on google finds it. When i am being dragged down by people only recalling the bad times, and people who love to gossip, the words of this poem have the power to flood my mind with all of the fantastic happy times and the many good things that Garry did for people, even strangers, wow, he even took learner of the year in his counceling skills course, so HOW could he have been a selfish person???????????

i missed you yesterday, i miss you today and i will miss you tommorow and always x

It is so true. Reading the many comments posted after news articles about someone well known who has died of suicide, you see the rampant misperceptions that are out there about suicide. Things like:"it is impossible that this person died of suicide, because he was such a compassionate and honest person and had so many friends""He took the easy way out"and of course, the angry statements about selfishness. In many ways, suicide is still a mystery to most of us. But the more we learn, the more it seems that almost any type of person can die of this illness... and it does not define their lives. It is how they died, not how they lived before this monstrosity took them away.Gary sounds like a wonderful, kind, and giving person. I am so sorry for your loss.

Thank you cali, your words are so true. I have been wondering if a ribbon exsits in support of suicide awareness? if there is i would like wear one with pride in memory of all of our loved ones, maybe someone can let me know, if not why not???? many illnesses have a ribbon to wear to raise awareness and support a cause. i think it would come as quite a shock to many people, realising just how many people this illness affects and in a very silent way, saying to the world " I AM PROUD OF THE PERSON I LOST " if a ribbon already exsists, please let me know.

i missed you yesterday, i miss you today and i will miss you tommorow and always x

fay, I just Googled "ribbon for suicide survivor" and found that many survivor groups have adopted the yellow ribbon. a couple of years ago we talked about a yellow plastic bracelet with the inscription "silence leads to sadness".

I did a search for ribbons... and there seem to be a lot of different ones for suicide survivors, in fact, there is one depicted at the top of this site. I hope one day a ribbon will coalesce that everyone will see and connect with, like the pink ones for breast cancer. xo.

cali, i have spent many hours searching for ribbons because i wanted me and my family to wear one on the first memorial of garry's passing. i am actually quite angry that it is easier to purchase a pin/ribbon for the protection of birds than to raise awareness of an illness resulting in loss of life !!!! i did find ONE site where i could buy items with the logo on this site...... a t shirt costing £27.00 and keyrings costing £3.75 and none of the proceeds go to charity i feel so strongly about doing this in garry's memory, i will highly likely purchase these anyway. we have many charity shops here in the uk called MIND and yet there is nothing available to raise awareness. i think here in the uk we are embarrasingly lacking in any kind of awareness of such a massive problem, better swept under the carpet for fear of maybe upsetting people, no wonder the biggots are so ignorant grrr. ( i desperatley needed that rant !!! )

i missed you yesterday, i miss you today and i will miss you tommorow and always x

fay48 wrote:i have decided to use pos ffos logo to make my own window flyers and have t shirts printed, i would love to contact the media to appeal for a company to produce goods in aid of charity?????? Fay x

Fay, Contact Karyl about using the logo. It's a lovely idea, but since the site is owned by her, I would ask if she would mind out of courtesy.

TammyProud Army MomModeratorI thought I would lay down and die after losing my Son to suicide. Instead I chose to fight the monster that killed him. http://www.afsp.orgHold On, Pain Ends